I’m Teresa Maley, Cataloguing Archivist for the Twixt Thistle and Rose project. I’ll be working in Berwick over the next year, primarily, to create an electronic catalogue of the Borough records. My first job, back in 1981, was with the Northumberland Record Office. In those days the Record Office sent an archivist to Berwick once a week to open the Borough Archives to the public. That was my first encounter with these records and the people who used them.

MANAGING THE RECORDS

Linda Bankier – who is also an Archivist by profession – leads the Berwick Record Office team and has worked here since the 1980’s. The Record Office is based in the Library building in Walkergate. Largely through her efforts, the service has grown from a minimal presence to a full time Record Office for Berwick and North Northumberland. The collections have grown too. Linda is assisted, for part of the week, by Carole Pringle and Martha Andrews. The team prepare and run the busy search room on Wednesdays and Thursdays throughout the year as well as delivering a full programme of events and outreach activities.

Activities include working with local schools, delivering talks to a variety of groups in the area, taking part in Heritage Open Days and other events and festivals in Berwick and North Northumberland. The Berwick Record Office is part of Northumberland Archives at Woodhorn so Linda and the team are also involved in projects organised further afield.

VOLUNTEERS, FRIENDS AND RESEARCHERS

The team has supported a number of local and national history projects that have revealed the richness and variety of the Berwick records – such as Peregrini, Berwick 900, Flodden 1513, Waite and Sea and and From Cholera to Comic. Many of the participants in those projects were keen to volunteer on subsequent projects or support the general work of the Berwick Record Office by transcribing, cataloguing or indexing records.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been meeting volunteers and have been impressed by the skill and dedication they bring to the tasks they undertake. Almost everyone seems to have had some experience of carrying out research before they volunteered – be it genealogical or historical. However, they are given training in palaeography and other aspects of archival practice by Linda to help them to read the records, understand and conserve them.  

A list of work undertaken by volunteers would be very long so here is a flavour of what they do:

Indexing local newspapers extracting references to: nineteenth century Coroners reports (to fill gaps in the record series), Ships in and out of Berwick and their cargoes from the early 1800’s, Visitors to the seaside resort of Spittal in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries – recording it’s changing character over those years and reports about the lives of local soldiers on home leave during World War I

Indexing and transcribing Board of Guardians records for Berwick, Glendale and Belford – opening up records about poverty and public health

Summarizing, indexing and typing up the Guild correspondence, enrolment books and minutes so that the early history, fabric and governance of the Town is better known

Creating a searchable database of Freeman’s Admissions as part of the Berwick Families element of the Berwick 900 project

Indexing, transcribing and cataloguing the records of the Quarter and Petty Sessions – a mine of information for social historians

Creating a database of the Town Council Planning registers – full of details about major and minor building works – built or not built!

Conserving and cataloguing the music cards of the Kings Own Scottish Borderers Band – providing an insight into popular and military musical taste in the twentieth century

Cataloguing and conserving the Berwick Photo Centre archive – a huge task but unlocking a wonderful resource for anyone interested in a visual record of Berwick, North Northumberland and the Scottish Borders from the 1950’s

A history, in it’s many guises, of the Berwick Corn Exchange

and, more recently, a database created from the card index of Holy Island residents compiled by Professor Sheddick which was a part of the Peregrini project.

I was interested to hear the reasons why people volunteer – one person wants to keep up their touch-typing skills now they have retired, another told me it was the joy of handling original documents and others described the thrill of the chase when following a single story through several sources. I also met several people who have carried out their own research – long term projects such as the history of the salmon fisheries on the Tweed or studies of individual buildings and people of the area.

Some of the work the volunteers have done is destined to be included in the new catalogue as it is within the scope of the project and, personally, I’m very pleased that my task will be much easier with such knowledgeable and friendly people on hand!

RECORD KEEPERS OF OLD

Berwick is particularly lucky to have a full and almost unbroken series of records from the sixteenth century onward. It is clear that, from earliest times, protection of their records was of high importance to the Guild and Town. I have started to look at the some of the earliest Guild Books (more about them next time) and was heartened, as an archivist, to see such a robust record keeping system documented, monitored and practiced. When a Head Guild met, the clerk noted down first those present but the next item of business was usually a list of charters and other writings of the town that were securely held in the “Town Chist”. The clerk recorded when a document was removed (the reason why and to whom given) and when it was put back.

This prompted me to think about another group of people that should be mentioned here and who are relevant to this project – those writers and keepers of the records that set a precedent for the custodians of today.

The series of records Berwick has inherited would not be so complete had the Guild been less vigilant in the protection of its rights. From earliest times, the Guild knew that the key to a solid defence of those rights was the existence of authentic, written records and so ensured they protected and were in possession of their archives at all times.

However, the clerks who penned the town records must have tired of copying sometimes and this week, as if to remind me they shouldn’t be forgotten, I came across some of their less formal writings and doodles.

I was also intrigued by this little pencil sketch

It reminded me of the sign manual that Scottish notaries were obliged to place on the instruments they wrote as one part of authenticating the document. The sign manual was a pen and ink seal unique to them. Alternatively, the doodle has the look of a coat of arms or it might just have been added later by someone reading rather than writing the records.

If you know what it is please get in touch!